HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE AND EASY MAXI DRESS TUTORIAL STEP BY STEP

Asslam alaikum sisters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wish you all the best for your aims ,goals and resolutions for new year , may Allah bring happiness and prosperity for us all Ameen . Lets get started with todays post it is requested by my super lovely sister Mayya-al-Saad . As soon as she asked for a sewing tutorial i just took break from everything and cracked on it, though its been few weeks now but we had christmas holidays and time flew that i could'nt even make time to put together this post. But as the kids are gone back to school so its time to do some blogging and sharing what what  most passionate about ! yes it is sewing dressmaking and related things like fashions , trends cuts and much more. Below i have taken picture of every single step which requires you to make a simple maxi dress.First we will begin with making a template of the maxi dress . you will need to take your body measurements , as i am using my body measurements. Here is a guide for the measurements i have used for this template.

{google images}

I have  only used 1 (across shoulders) , 2(bust) , 3(waist) , 5 (hips) , 6(floor length of the dress) measurements for my tutorial. I will post in bullet points and each point explains the  picture of that step. beginning from the left

1. Things you need to make simple maxi dress : measuring tape , a good pair of scissors , fabric chalk , any felt tip pen , a paper roll , a ruler and a sewing machine.
2.   lay the paper roll flat of the floor or big table if you have , depends on your convenience . I am comfortable working on floor .
3. Now begin with the left corner of the paper  my across shoulder measurement is 15 inches i will 1 inch seam allowance =16 inches and divide it by 2 so i have marked 8 inches from the corner to the mark where it comes up to 8 inches.
4. From that mark straight down i will draw a straight line upto 9.5 inches . We have got our chest line here.
5. draw a horizontal  line from that point where it came 9.5  towards the left side.
6. Mark 6 inches down from chest line .
7.  again draw a horizontal line towards the left. this is our waist line.
8. Now mark down 7 inches down from waist line .
9. Draw a horizontal line towards left and this is our hips line.

10. mark your chest measurements on the chest line on the template. just a little note what ever is your measurement add an inch or two for extra according to your comfort level and divide it by 4 and mark on the paper.

11. mark down the measurement of waist on the waist line same method full measurement and inch or two extra and divide by 4 and mark down.

12. mark the hips measurements down on hip line.

13. Now go to the very first  vertical line we drew on template .mark down 1 inch down on the same line.

14. With the help of the ruler .

15. draw a straight line towards the top of the template.

16. This is our shoulder line now.

17. Remember before we marked  1 inch down it was full 9.5 inches. after taking that 1 inch we are left with 8.5 inches. mark a point in the middle  of this 8.5 inch line  .

18. which comes up to 4.25 inches.{ in picture i have written 4.5 it is my mistake it actually is 4.25}

19. Now where it comes to 4.25 inch mark a 1/2 inch straight horizontal line towards the left
20. now connect  this point to the top with the help of ruler where the one inch came upto from top.
21. draw a dotted line from this middle point towards the chest line.
22.Draw another  full curved line towards the chest line . this line emerges from the first line we drew and it is for arms holes now and the dotted line is bit towards inside for front side of arms and chest.both curved lines meet at the same point where my chest measurement is marked.
23. Connect the chest line to the waistline with the help of ruler.
24. and connect the waistline to the hips line.
25. From the hips line you need to mark down the floor length of your dress it up to your what length  you are comfortable with .
26. I will normally mark 6 inches extra added to hips measurement for bottom of maxi dress but
27. Here i have only given four inches extra two on each side.

28.Here you can see the full template taking a shape .
29. Mark 3 inches from  top left corner towards right .
30.This is the width of back side of neck.
31.From the same top left corner mark 2 inches down. this is the depth of the back side of neck .
32.Now connect both points of width of neck and the depth of the neck  through a curved line.
33.From the same top left side corner now mark down the depth for the front side of neck.
34.It is 5.5 inches.
35.Now with the help of dotted line connect the depth of the front side of neck to the width of the neck.
36.There you go we have got a complete template.

37.now start cutting along the marked line of the measurements.
38.Lay down the fabric on the floor or table , the fabric should be lengthwise into half sides.
39.Salvages side to the right side.
40. Folded side towards the left.
41.Put the template on top of the folded fabric.
42.You can see why i didn't give 6 inches extra because of just enough fabric.
43. I would recommend pinning the template on the fabric as to keep it from moving while cutting and          marking.
44. start cutting from the shoulder line .
45. while coming down along the armhole line. after you finish cutting the arm hole line

46. Do remember to give an inch of seam allowance while you start cutting along the chest line.

47. keep cutting along  .                                                                                                           

48.until you reach the bottom of the maxi dress.                                                                        

  49. Give an inch allowance at the bottom for finishing the seams and hemming.                             

50.Now i will open the folded fabric and fold both sides of the maxi dress individually and i will 

              make sure both wrong sides of the fabric are out.                                                                           

51.Now again lay both folded fabric on the floor or table .                                                          

       52. I will again recommend pinning down the both sides again the folded side so it doesn't move while marking and cutting  .                                                                                                     

53. Put the pattern on top the fabric.                                                                                            

        54. Mark the back neck side on the fabric.  begin from the depth marked  of the neck .                                                                                 

55. Now mark the width of the neck .

56. You can see of the markings 

57.mark the front side of the neck depth measurement.

58. Draw both curved lines of the neck back and front sides.

59.Cut along the back side of the neck line.

60.now cut along the curve of front side of neck , make sure this time you only cut on one fold of fabric which is on the top preferably.

61. Time to cut the front side of the arm holes, put the template on the fabric  for accurate markings.  

62. mark the half inch  line towards inside as we did on the paper .

63 . Draw the curved line inside of the arm hole line  , make sure to do these marking on the front side of the maxi dress , same side  where where we marked  the front side of the neck as well.   

64.Cut along the curved line.

65.Take the template off from the fabric.

66. I had only this piece of fabric left , so i decided to make sleeves out of it.

67. put it along with the fabric which is already been cut to see whether its big enough or not?

68.yes it is more than enough for small sleeves and i am going to wear it with jumper any way but i would prefer long sleeves.

69.you can mark easily by putting it against the arm hole side and cut along the curved line.

70.Draw another curved line a bit towards inside to give it more nicer curved shape to fit with armhole measurements.

71. put it against the cut piece of template that it measures same.

72.yes it measures perfect and only one inch extra which is seam allowance.

73. now i will unfold the sleeves .

74. so i can fold them wrong sides of the fabric out.

75.both wrong sides out side.

76. put both of the sleeves together on top of each other.

77. you have to take extra care at this step that you cut or trim the wrong side of the fabric, lift one side of the sleeve up .

78. As you can see , i will only cut the side you see and the one underneath it only two sides and make sure you dont cut the last one at the bottom .

79. here you can see the the cutting.

80. i have only cut a small curve towards inside for front side of arms fitting.

81. now flip it over and her you have got two sleeves fully cut.

82 .Let start sewing now.
83 .We shall begin with shoulders, sewing both sides together .
84 .Of course you need a thread and the wheel bobbin.
85.sew both shoulders first.
86. Both shoulders seams done!
87.Now start the side seams. beginning with chest line. right side first.
88.  Now off to left side seams.
89. begin with the same chest line and keep going all the way to the bottom.
90. both side seams are done!!!!!!!


91 . Turn the wrong side in and right side out this what you have got pretty much .
92. first i will start finish the bottom seams with hemming.
93 hemming at night as i had to finish this project.
94. now it neck line's hemming next just turn 1/4 of cm inside and and turn it in again . and do the hemming.
95. both bottom and neck line hemming done!!!!!!
96. iron them out and to set them flat.
97 iron bottom hemming .
98. ironed neckline hemming.
99. look at the difference!!!!

100. time to put sleeves together. put the sleeve flat against the armhole side of the dress wrong side out.
101. mark the measurement where the chest  seams are.
102. start  sewing by putting together the both seams on top of each other .
103. sew around the around the sleeves and armholes.
104. off to finish the sleeves seams, just fold twice and start hemming.
105. TADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA her i am wearing it.
 I really hope and pray it is useful for you all sister and you can learn from this tutorial . Dont forget to check out my facebook page , instagram to keep up with the latest happening around my sewing corner. If you have any questions comment below i will try my best to answer you as soon as i can. In the mean time stay blessed and  make sure to check out sister Mayya's blog and her Youtube channel , inshaAllah.
you all take care untill next time inshaAllah.
xoxo.